Working Away

Human trafficking—————Speak out  My Friend…………………

UNITED NATIONS: A father of two from Nepal who thought he was going to America wound up in Iraq, forced to work at a US airbase. A 14-year-old Ugandan girl kidnapped by rebels spent nearly eight years in captivity as a sex slave and human shield. And a young Venezuelan woman lured to New York by the man she loved wound up in a brothel his family was running.

The three victims of human trafficking spoke on Thursday at an event organized by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay who said it was ‘pressing and urgent’ not only to listen to their stories of survival but to get their recommendations on how the international community can help end the growing global scourge.

‘In every part of the world, countless individuals are callously exploited for profit,’ Pillay said. ‘While trafficking may be a problem related to migration and to transnational crime, it is also – and fundamentally – an attack on the dignity and integrity of the individual.’

‘Trafficking involves practices prohibited in every country including slavery, debt, bondage, forced labor and sexual exploitation.’

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who opened the event, said the global economic crisis ‘is making the problem worse.’

He urged governments to heed his ‘call to action’ and step up efforts to prevent exploitation, protect victims and pursue traffickers whose conviction rates in most countries ‘are microscopic compared to the scope of the problem.’

The UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking estimated last year that annual profits from trafficked, forced labor is around $31.6 billion. Some experts say it is now the second-largest illicit business in the world after drugs.

Buddhi Gurung, who calls himself a poor Nepali man, described how he was unable to get a job to support his wife and two sons during fighting by Maoist rebels and the army in 2004. When an agent promised him a job in America for $500 a month, he said he borrowed about $2,800 to pay him – but instead of going to the United States, he was taken to Jordan via New Delhi.

After a month in Jordan, he said he was put in a van with 11 others and driven to Baghdad. Twelve Nepali friends in the van that left just before him were abducted, paraded on television and eventually beheaded. Gurung said he wound up at the US Al Asad Air Base where he was forced to work and paid less than the promised $500 a month.

‘We would hear bomb blasts nearby and we knew our life was at risk,’ Gurung said. ‘I always wanted to go back to Nepal but neither my passport was with me, nor did I have any money or knew any other way to go back. … Finally, after 15 months, I was permitted to go back to Nepal. This is how my life was saved.’

Gurung and the families of the 12 Nepali men have filed a US federal lawsuit accusing Houston-based defense contractor KBR Inc. and a Jordanian subcontractor, Daoud & Partners, of human trafficking.

Gurung urged the ‘big people’ at Thursday’s event ‘to develop a mechanism to save people like me from such traps of human trafficking.’

Charlotte Awino described how she and 138 other girls were abducted from a boarding school in 1996 by rebels from the Lords Resistance Army, marched for three months into southern Sudan, and used as human shields during fighting against Uganda soldiers.

‘As usual, we girls suffered more,’ she said. ‘We were distributed to rebel commanders, as objects without rights, and we were sexually abused. … I was given to a man who had 20 other abducted girls, and he was a brutal man. I had two children with him.’

Awino, who escaped in 2004 when the rebels went back to northern Uganda, urged the UN to ‘try to get back the children who have been trafficked through war, some as young as six.’

She also called for victims to be given counseling, health care and education, for countries to better protect their citizens during war, and for improved methods to track and trace missing people. She also urged understanding for the plight of victims.

‘One day I was at home. The next day I was among the rebels,’ Awino said. ‘Is everyone going to call us rebels or terrorists?’

Kikka Cerpa described falling in love with a man named Daniel while working at a hotel in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, when she was 17 years old. A few years later, she said, Daniel moved to New York and eventually she went to join him, only to discover that his family ran a sex trafficking ring.

Cerpa said her passport and money were taken, she was put in a basement and told she owed the family a lot of money, and the only way to pay it off was to work in a brothel.

‘The first night was the worst,’ she said, her voice quavering. ‘I have to service 90 men.’
Cerpa said she was trafficked from brothel to brothel over the next three years.

Sometimes police would raid the brothels, but ‘instead of rescuing us, they demand that we perform sexual services on them.

 

 I am around and kicking He!He!He!. .

As the whole world and the individuals that inhabit it get increasingly cocooned, it is critical that one spends time with one’s family.The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

Family is the first social unit for developing the qualities of the heart. A true family grows and moves through life together, inseparable in the heart. Whether a biological family or an extended family of people attracted to each other based on heart resonance and mutual support, the word "family" implies warmth, a place where the core feelings of the heart are nurtured. Family values represent the core values and guidelines that parents and family members hold in high regard for the well-being of the family. Sincere family feelings are core heart feelings. They are the basis for true family values. While we have differences, we remain "family" by virtue of our heart connection. Family provides necessary security and support, and acts as a buffer against external problems. A family made up of secure people generates a magnetic power that can get things done. They are the hope for real security in a stressful world.
The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.
No matter what you’ve done for yourself or for humanity, if you can’t look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?

There was this man who saw a scorpion floundering around in the water. He decided to save it by stretching out his finger, but the scorpion stung him. The man still tried to get the scorpion out of the water, but the scorpion stung him again.
A man nearby told him to stop saving the scorpion that kept stinging him.
But the men said: "It is the nature of the scorpion to sting. It is my nature to love. Why should I give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?"

Don’t give up loving.
Don’t give up your goodness.
Even if people around you sting.

“Children make you want to start life over.” ~Muhammad Ali.

Give love without remembering and take without forgetting.
When a man begins to perceive the love of God in all its richness, he begins also to love his neighbor with spiritual perception.  This is the love of which all the scriptures speak.

Oh yes. Couldn’t have stated it better. We see children and we don’t want to grow up ever. A life so pure and innocent of all the thing that the world have become.. Of animals and plants, and dreams and super heroes.. and demons at night and calling out for mom.

Wishing you well my friend

Why is it so hard to forgive others ?

Usually because we believe that they are 92% to blame for the problem , that I am not as bad as they are .

So .. I start to carry the load of other people’s actions . If my ego is too hurt , I will have the sense of correction of justice ; I know I am right , " That is not fair " .

But if I start to forgive from the heart , sincerely , then this kind of feeling and attitude begins to dissolve .

I remain humble and this forgiveness will bring me closer to others . Then I do not carry regrets or anger , I just let go and remain light .
One of the hardest, thorniest and most difficult things we humans are ever called upon to do is to respond to evil with kindness, and to forgive the unforgivable. We love to read stories about people who’ve responded to hatred with love, but when that very thing is demanded of us personally, our default seems to be anger, angst, depression, righteousness, hatred, etc. Yet study after study shows that one of the keys to longevity and good health is to develop a habit of gratitude and let go of past hurts.

Want to live a long, happy life? Forgive the unforgivable. It really is the kindest thing you can do for yourself. Your enemy may not deserve to be forgiven for all the pain and sadness and suffering purposefully inflicted on your life, but you deserve to be free of this evil. As Ann Landers often said, "hate is like an acid. It destroys the vessel in which it is stored."

When someone you care about hurts you, you can hold on to anger, resentment and thoughts of revenge or embrace forgiveness and move forward.
Nearly everyone has been hurt by the actions or words of another. Your mother criticized your parenting skills. Your friend gossiped about you. Your partner had an affair. These wounds can leave you with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness and even vengeance.
But when you don’t practice forgiveness, you may be the one who pays most dearly. By embracing forgiveness, you embrace peace, hope, gratitude and joy.
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was YOU………
As difficult as it seems, you can be sure of this: At the core of the heart, you have the power to move beyond the old issues that are still hindering your freedom. The hardest things—the ones that push you up against your limits—are the very things you need to address to make a quantum leap into a fresh inner and outer life.
In the long run, it’s not a question of whether they deserve to be forgiven. You’re not forgiving them for their sake. You’re doing it for yourself. For your own health and well-being, forgiveness is simply the most energy-efficient option. It frees you from the incredibly toxic, debilitating drain of holding a grudge. Don’t let these people live rent free in your head. If they hurt you before, why let them keep doing it year after year in your mind? It’s not worth it but it takes heart effort to stop it. You can muster that heart power to forgive them as a way of looking out for yourself. It’s one thing you can be totally selfish about.
Take it slowly. The deepest resentments are wrapped up in a lot of hurt and pain. We think we’re protecting ourselves by not forgiving. Acknowledge that and go easy on yourself. Forgiveness means that you’ve decided not to let it keep festering inside even if it only comes up once in awhile. Forgiveness is a powerful yet challenging tool that will support and honor you, even in the most extreme circumstances.
The incoherence that results from holding on to resentments and unforgiving attitudes keeps you from being aligned with your true self. It can block you from your next level of quality life experience. Metaphorically, it’s the curtain standing between the room you’re living in now and a new room, much larger and full of beautiful objects. The act of forgiveness removes the curtain. Clearing up your old accounts can free up so much energy that you jump right into a whole new house. Forgiving releases you from the punishment of a self-made prison where you are both the inmate and the jailer.
Put your best mental energies (perhaps first thing in the morning) into visualizing the new life you want. See yourself - in the future - as free of this pain and suffering.
Forgiveness is a choice. When you say, "I can’t forgive that person," what you’re really saying is, "I’m choosing not to forgive that person." If you say it the second way instead, you’ll find yourself forgiving soon.Remember two wrongs don’t make it right it makes it worse.
True forgiveness takes time. Realize that everyone heals in their own way and in their own time. It is ok for you to take time to forgive, but you must realize that you will only be free from the bondage of hurt,despair and rage if you let it go and truly forgive the hurt that is holding back the true you. The sooner you make the choice to forgive and apply it, the better.
Forgiveness is not a defensive action, but an offensive one. It actively demolishes strongholds that keep you and others in bondage to a hurtful situation. Be aware that you are in a spiritual battle through the act of forgiveness and may experience some resistance from the devil in this. Press forward towards victory anyway! It is the best gift you can give yourself!
Sincere forgiveness isn’t colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don’t worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time—just like it does for you and me.

A father came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

Son: "Father, may I ask you a question?"

Father replied: "Yeah sure, what it is?"

Son: "Father, how much do you make an hour?"

Father said angrily: "That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"

Son: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"

Father: "If you must know, I make £20 an hour."

"Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Father, may I please borrow £10?"

The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such childish behavior."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. Father sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the father had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that £10 and he really didn’t ask for money very often.

The father went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep, son?" Father asked.

"No Father, I am awake," replied the little boy.

"I have been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the father. "It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the £10 you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you Father!" He yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The father, seeing that the little boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Father, I have £20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."

Moral of the Story: Share this story with someone you like… But even better, share £20 worth of time with someone you love. It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life.

We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days.

But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family. An unwise investment indeed!

So what is the moral of the story?

Don’t work too hard…and you know what the full word of FAMILY is?
If Today If you planted hope today In any hopeless heart If someone’s burden was lighter Because you did your part, If you caused a laugh That chased some tears away If tonight your name is named When someone kneels to pray Then your day has been well spent.
The only thing that you can carry with you is  your heart. Fill you heart with good things and good things will follow you For the rest fo your life.

These two truths are the same in weight and importance. Accept and love WHO and WHERE you are now, and all good things shall find you there .

Are You a Bucket-Filler or a Dipper?

You have heard of the cup that overflowed. This is a story of a bucket that is like the cup, only larger, it is an invisible bucket. Everyone has one. It determines how we feel about ourselves, about others, and how we get along with people. Have you ever experienced a series of very favorable things which made you want to be good to people for a week? At that time, your bucket was full.

A bucket can be filled by a lot of things that happen. When a person speaks to you, recognizing you as a human being, your bucket is filled a little. Even more if he calls you by name, especially if it is the name you like to be called. If he compliments you on your dress or on a job well done, the level in your bucket goes up still higher. There must be a million ways to raise the level in another’s bucket. Writing a friendly letter, remembering something that is special to him, knowing the names of his children, expressing sympathy for his loss, giving him a hand when his work is heavy, taking time for conversation, or, perhaps more important, listing to him.

When one’s bucket is full of this emotional support, one can express warmth and friendliness to people. But, remember, this is a theory about a bucket and a dipper. Other people have dippers and they can get their dippers in your bucket. This, too, can be done in a million ways.

Lets say I am at a dinner and inadvertently upset a glass of thick, sticky chocolate milk that spills over the table cloth, on a lady’s skirt, down onto the carpet. I am embarrassed. "Bright Eyes" across the table says, "You upset that glass of chocolate milk." I made a mistake, I know I did, and then he told me about it! He got his dipper in my bucket! Think of the times a person makes a mistake, feels terrible about it, only to have someone tell him about the known mistake ("Red pencil" mentality!)

Buckets are filled and buckets are emptied ? emptied many times because people don’t really think about what are doing. When a person’s bucket is emptied, he is very different than when it is full. You say to a person whose bucket is empty, "That is a pretty tie you have," and he may reply in a very irritated, defensive manner.

Although there is a limit to such an analogy, there are people who seem to have holes in their buckets. When a person has a hole in his bucket, he irritates lots of people by trying to get his dipper in their buckets. This is when he really needs somebody to pour it in his bucket because he keeps losing.

The story of our lives is the interplay of the bucket and the dipper. Everyone has both. The unyielding secret of the bucket and the dipper is that when you fill another’s bucket it does not take anything out of your own bucket. The level in our own bucket gets higher when we fill another’s, and, on the other hand, when we dip into another’s bucket we do not fill our own … we lose a little.

For a variety of reasons, people hesitate filling the bucket of another and consequently do not experience the fun, joy, happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction connected with making another person happy. Some reasons for this hesitancy are that people think it sounds "fakey," or the other person will be suspicious of the motive, or it is "brown-nosing."

Therefore, let us put aside our dipper and resolve to touch someone’s life in order to fill their bucket.

When someone you care about hurts you, you can hold on to anger, resentment and thoughts of revenge or embrace forgiveness and move forward.
Nearly everyone has been hurt by the actions or words of another. Your mother criticized your parenting skills. Your friend gossiped about you. Your partner had an affair. These wounds can leave you with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness and even vengeance.
But when you don’t practice forgiveness, you may be the one who pays most dearly. By embracing forgiveness, you embrace peace, hope, gratitude and joy.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover the prisoner was YOU………

As difficult as it seems, you can be sure of this: At the core of the heart, you have the power to move beyond the old issues that are still hindering your freedom. The hardest things—the ones that push you up against your limits—are the very things you need to address to make a quantum leap into a fresh inner and outer life.
In the long run, it’s not a question of whether they deserve to be forgiven. You’re not forgiving them for their sake. You’re doing it for yourself. For your own health and well-being, forgiveness is simply the most energy-efficient option. It frees you from the incredibly toxic, debilitating drain of holding a grudge. Don’t let these people live rent free in your head. If they hurt you before, why let them keep doing it year after year in your mind? It’s not worth it but it takes heart effort to stop it. You can muster that heart power to forgive them as a way of looking out for yourself. It’s one thing you can be totally selfish about.
Take it slowly. The deepest resentments are wrapped up in a lot of hurt and pain. We think we’re protecting ourselves by not forgiving. Acknowledge that and go easy on yourself. Forgiveness means that you’ve decided not to let it keep festering inside even if it only comes up once in awhile. Forgiveness is a powerful yet challenging tool that will support and honor you, even in the most extreme circumstances.
The incoherence that results from holding on to resentments and unforgiving attitudes keeps you from being aligned with your true self. It can block you from your next level of quality life experience. Metaphorically, it’s the curtain standing between the room you’re living in now and a new room, much larger and full of beautiful objects. The act of forgiveness removes the curtain. Clearing up your old accounts can free up so much energy that you jump right into a whole new house. Forgiving releases you from the punishment of a self-made prison where you are both the inmate and the jailer.
Sincere forgiveness isn’t colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don’t worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time—just like it does for you and me.

  "Like a plant needs water children need encouragement." Encouragement literally means to ‘give heart’. If you are unsure how to encourage your child then think back to how you encouraged him when he was trying to walk. In all likelihood you encouraged and urged your child so hard that you nearly pulled him up with your will. You didn’t criticize him because he fell over. You urged him to get up and have another try and you communicated through your behavior that you knew that he could do it.

 My hands are small. Please don’t expect perfection whenever I make a bed, draw a picture or throw a ball. My legs are short. Please slow down so that I can keep up with you. .

2. My eyes have not seen the world as yours have. Please let me explore safely. Don’t restrict me unnecessarily.

3. Housework will always be there. I’m only little for such a short time. Please take time to explain things to me about this wonderful world, and do so willingly.

4. My feelings are tender. Please be sensitive to my needs. Don’t nag me all day long. (You wouldn’t want to be nagged for your inquisitiveness.) Treat me as you would like to be treated.

5. I am a special gift from God. Please treasure me, holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to live by and disciplining me in a loving manner.

6. I need your encouragement and your praise to grow. Please go easy on the criticism. Remember, you can criticize the things I do without criticizing me.

7. Please give me the freedom to make decisions concerning myself. Permit me to fail so that I can learn from my mistakes. Then someday, I’ll be prepared to make the kind of decisions life requires of me.

8. Please don’t do things over for me. Somehow that makes me feel that my efforts didn’t quite measure up to your expectations. I know it’s hard, but please don’t try to compare me with my brother or my sister.

9. Please don’t be afraid to leave for a weekend together. Kids need vacations from parents, just as parents need vacations from kids. Besides, it’s a great way to show us kids that your marriage is very special.

10. Please take me to worship regularly, setting a good example for me to follow.

 

My friend told me this story in Africa and thought to share it.

A farmer had a tree which grew beautiful mangoes.  Everyone in the village knew about the tree, and the mangoes.  One day the farmer was inspecting his trees, and saw the loveliest mango he had ever seen.  He picked it, and showed to his family.  they were amazed by the beautiful mango.  So were all his friends, who  heard about the mango, and came to look. .He!He!He! .

The farmer knew this was a special mango, but it wasn’t until his wide said, “That’s a mango fit for a king,”  that he knew what to do.  He was a poor farmer.  He had no money, but he could take this mango and offer it to the king.

 He wrapped the mango in a special cloth, and walked all the way to the palace.  At first the guards laughed at him, but he unwrapped the mango and showed it to them.  They were so amazed they called their commander, and the commander took the farmer to see the king.

 The farmer unwrapped the mango once more.   The king was amazed by the mango, but pleased by the generosity of the farmer.  He asked the farmer what he would like in return but the farmer refused.  He wanted no reward, and no gift.  “All I wanted was to see the joy on your face when you saw the perfect mango,”  he said.  Then he quietly slipped away, and went home.

 The king was sad when he discovered that the farmer had gone. He ordered one of the guards to take his finest horse to the farmer to show his gratitude.

 Soon everyone knew the king had given his finest horse in return for a mango.  A rich merchant in a nearby town heard of this.  He saddled his fastest horse and rode quickly to the palace.  There he offered the king his horse to replace the one which had been given to the merchant.  The king thanked him graciously, and waited for the merchant to leave.  But he did not.

 “Ah,” said the king, “You want something in return,” and he went into the palace.  The merchant could hardly wait.  It might be jewels, fine clothes, perhaps even a big house.  The king returned with a small casket.  He opened it, and inside lay a mango.  “This is my greatest treasure.  It was given to me by a generous man who wanted nothing in return.”

 The merchant was angry.  Outside the palace he took the mango and threw it away.  The king saw this and called his guards.  “Take the merchant, and make sure he never comes back to my palace.”  He does not understand that to give freely without expecting anything in return is the most precious thing anyone can do.”

Why does it seem so complex or hard to comprehend when it comes to giving to other people, but it a lot of times seems so easy to accept?Giving will help you to get more blessed not only that but you’ll be blessing someone else. That’s a great feeling. It will also make you feel better inside.

We all take certain things for granted, the sunrise, electricity and sometimes even life. But every now and then a senseless tragedy reminds us how very precious life is.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.Do you ever wonder what people are feeling when they smile? Do
they smile because they’re happy or do they smile because they want people to believe
they’re happy? Maybe they smile because they want you to smile and be happy.
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an
honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a
life around.A smile can touch a person’s life in ways you can never imagine. It’s infectious
and can cause a chain reaction. It can be memorable to someone you pass on the street or the
mall or driving… and it only takes a split second to smile and forget, yet… to someone
that needed it, it can last a lifetime. Maybe I should smile more often.
A friendly look, a kindly smile, one good act, and life’s worthwhile.
A smile costs nothing but gives much.  It enriches those who receive without making poorer
those who give.  It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.  None
is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot
be made rich by it.  Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is
something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.  Some people are too tired
to give you a smile.  Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no
more to give.
Smile don’t frown Look up don’t look down Believe in yourself Don’t let yourself go Just be
who you are And let your live flow.
As stressful as life can be , people ask why do i always smile, well because I can make you
smile back and that’s what makes life so much better.Just Smile!
Nothing Can Go wrong,
Evreyone speeks the language of emotion.Here’s a last thing no one can deny:
We are all just apprentices,
No one knows what it feels like
To Live The Best Life…
So you better give it a try
Before time catches you up and makes you die!
"Together we make the world brighter… .
Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.